Firstly, Applicant wishes to incorporate by reference Applicant's prior U.S. Pat. No. 5,149,597 as well as U.S Pat. No. 5,135,533 for which Applicant herein is a co-patentee. U.S. Pat. No. 5,149,597 discloses a Nickel-based wear resistant coating for metallic surfaces. U.S. Pat. No. 5,135,533 discloses improvements in surgical saw blades as well as use of the same Nickel-based coating to coat such saw blades to render them more wear resistant.
The wear resistant coatings disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,135,533 and 5,149,597 have been successfully utilized in coating surgical saw blades. However, a portion of the population can have an allergic reaction to Nickel and Nickel-containing materials. While no such allergic reactions have yet occurred through use of the coatings disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,135,533 and 5,149,597, the perception that such allergic reactions could occur has created a need to develop a wear resistant coating at least as effective as that which is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,135,533 and 5,149,597 but wherein the predominant materials do not include or at least minimize Nickel. It is with this goal in mind that the present invention was developed.